Thank you to all the handful of faithful followers of the blog. There is probably less than ten of you out there and your offers of help are deeply appreciated. Some truly amazing offers!

The actual response to the “teaser” on U-tube and on the Paragon blog has been minimal in “number of hits”. Just not a lot of interest. That has been disappointing , but the film is 37 years old now (1975) and I guess that is to be expected.

If I had my drruthers I would make a 45minute edited version of the original Paragons Paragon and shot a 45 minute sequel with the original actors.

A script is already done. All the important players are still alive and well. It would be a unique movie and a fun convention film package. Actors years older struggling with age, and no make up needed.

In order to do that I would buy a new computer along with sound and video editing programs and fix Paragon myself.

Would I take a chance on re-mastering the original from the super 8 mm film? I am not sure? However the odds are against it turning out ok and favor the money going down the drain on a conversion that fails.

Eliminating the original actors voices in Paragons Paragon, dubbing in new voices, and new sound track is not an option. It just would not be the same movie to me. I think 45 minutes of occasional hard to hear actors voices and a loss of humor scenes, and some of story line would be a better option than new voices. At least a good size chunk of the movie could be seen.

THANK YOU ALL

The blog is in a “holding pattern”. I am flying around in circles not sure about what I might do with it. At the very least it has supplied material for interested parties about Paragons Paragon.That was its main purpose.

IF YOU ARE A NEW PERSON TO THIS POST; go the end and then go forward from there. You will see mostly Star Trek “Paragons Paragon” material and how it evolved.

IF YOU ARE A REGULAR VIEWER; tell me what you might want to know about or see. Other than the 1hr.20min. Paragons Paragon movie.

OK, SO WHAT MIGHT STILL BE IN THE WORKS? I still want to make a 20 to 30 minute edited version available on the blog. When will it happen? I haven’t got the slightest idea. Just keep checking in every couple of months or so. I may have a third blooper already converted, but am not sure about it.

NOT ENOUGH RESPONSE FOR THE VIDEO CLIP how to do it IDEA to pursue more of them. However any of my regular followers that want to have something posted, or articles that you want me to write about, all you have to do is ask.

THE BEST THING FOR ME ABOUT THE BLOG has been meeting new friends and connecting with old ones. All of whom I will make a point of meeting in person soon.

Wallaces articles are the perfect “let’s get started” projects. They are presented in a manner very much like the olden days Cinemagic magazine would have done , if it had video capability.

I am pleased that he has allowed me to share his talents with you. He was mentioned in my July 7th. 2012 post. I once again recommend that you visit his web site as it is filled with delights at: stopmotion.moonfruit.com

Here is how I built my Monoclonius stop-motion model, using a ball and socket armature made in the manner described in my video.

The first step is to cut a sheet of cotton bunting into 1/2″ wide strips. Tightly wrap the armature with this bunting like a mummy. Glue the loose ends down with rubber cement. This bunting serves two functions: Protection for the armature, as well as a anchor on which to glue the the foam rubber.

Now, glue on bits of upholstery foam with contact cement. Don’t worry if you glue on a piece that is too big, it can always be trimmed down later. Keep doing this until you have a rough general shape.

For facial, neck and leg muscle detail, unroll a cotton ball and pull off a small swatch of cotton. Using a brush dipped in liquid latex, simply brush the cotton onto the upholstery foam. Shape with the flat end of a small screw driver.This is great for building up around the eyes.

Glass eyes from a taxidermy supply, or glass doll eyes are the best choice. On this particular model, I used wooden macrame beads.

The teeth were made of scrap balsa wood, cut to size and glued into the mouth with contact cement. The horn was made in a similar fashion and attached with rubber cement. This is later strengthened by a coating of liquid latex.

To finish the feet, cut into the foam with small scissors to make the channel between the toes. Sculpt the toes by rounding off the foam with scissors. The back of the foot can be built up with cotton and latex.

The bony structure around the creatures neck was cut from a cardboard cereal box. Wood glue was applied to the cardboard shape and a piece of regular gauze bandage (from a drug or dollar store) was glued to the card board. When dry, flip over and repeat for the other side. With both sides try, trim down with a pair of pinking shears to give the edge a jagged look.

To skin the model, I used the same type of gauze bandage, cut to shape and glued on with contact cement. Just tack it on. When you have the model covered with gauze, brush liquid latex onto the gauze. I found that only one coat was necessary because I liked the texture of the gauze.

When dry, paint with acrylic paint. Another variant is to mix in a small amount of liquid latex into the acrylic. It’s up to you. I have found that acrylic without the latex works just as well.

Keep in mind there are many ways to construct animation models and this is just one of them. Feel free to experiment and come up with your own variations.

in his smashortrash site. Learn where the film making mine fields are. Or when in a tactual negotiation learn what to say to the Klingons and Romulans, and how to live to tell others about it. Join Robert in his mission, which he explains in his blog. Read about techniques that brought success to other hopeful film makers along with occasional headaches . Try them out; the good ideas that is! His site is filled with photo delights and honest talk about what to expect in a film making venture from acting to distribution.

The interviews are my favorite part.

However his site is humongous! Giant! Filled with all variety of good stuff.

(Reviews, Trailers, Photos, etc.)

You have to go there and see for yourself.

It’s time to sign off ,

Next article will probably be a how-to do- it about simple stop motion armature/build ups .

Sorry about the delay in adding new post articles. So let this current post be a fun trip back in time. The scenes will give you a good idea of where and how everything was filmed. You can see the cafeteria was right next to the bridge and if you look close at other clips the basement becomes very apparent.

We fooled around a lot and tried to make the work schedule into as mush fun as we could. Sellek and Kirk were the biggest hams. They constantly tried to top one another by being the person to get the last funny line in.

See the Cafeteria trick we pulled on two high school members of the cast. Larry Cosentino and Micheal Sacks.

See grown adults make ridiculous faces.

And more silly faces Hey Ka Passa.

Lets not forget our Doctor

Or our bored Engineer (Jim Grey) blowing dragon smoke out the sides of his mouth.

And it never hurts to have a pretty girl in a short skirt now and again

I found myself with extra film that I had to run through the camera so I put the camera on a tripod and did my share of silliness. This included a short version of the ” Soupy Shuffle”. The shuffle is a sideways dance that was done by Detroits’ own Soupy Sales on his tv show that was for kids at lunch time. I , like many kids, would rush home from school ( a one mile walk or run in this case) to gobble down my lunch and watch as much of his half hour show as I could before running back to school. I hated eating in the school cafeteria. It was like a punishment to me when it rained and I had to stay at school for lunch. Times have changed for kids, haven’t they.

In Rochester Michigan I am setting up a forced perspective (photo below) for the scene when the Alien first lands on the planet to retrieve the zoo specimens from the big mother ship seen later in the film “The Alien Factor”. Directly below this top photo is the actual result of this set up.

(Please excuse the images the scanner isn’t working properly)

The vertical stick is holding the white space ship up.

Forced Perspective result above off view screen

NEXT ARE SOME ACTUAL FILM CLIPS FROM FOOTAGE OF THE ORIGINAL ” LEMOID CREATURE “THAT WAS NOT USED IN THE MOVIE

The creature was supposed to be a ” “ghost like”energy thing that goes from invisible to visible at the end of the movie. The reason for the “ghost” idea was so that it could be a doubleexposure which would keep the special effects simpler and less expensive to do. Britt McDonough did the armature, creature and the original special effect battle. I ran his version (which was on on a short version of the movie) for friends and relatives in order to raise extra money necessary for our 35mm print.

Don somehow got Ernie Farino to do another version of the Lemoid battle. Ernie had already done the title credit sequence.

(Ernie Farino’s Lemoid )

Britts Lemoid was replaced. I do not think that was very fair to Britt and I am embarrassed that I did not fight to keep his version. Sometimes “right” is more important than “might” , or in this case a product made by a more experienced person. Yes, Ernie’s is pretty cool. However, I never asked Britt how he felt about what happened. Maybe he was totally in favor of doing the switch and it never bothered him? I know it would of bothered me!

I might have some footage of Britts original version , but like all this material in my blog it is someplace in storage. I’ll keep my eyes open for it in my good ole pile of goodies. It is only available on certain Alien Factor DVD’s as part of an “extras” package.

HERE ARE SOME MORE FILM CLIPS OF BRITTS LEMOID IN ACTION

ERECTOR SET ARMATURE

OK, I am just tossing this armature photo in . I think the armature is one of Britts and it might even be for the Lemoid. I honestly can not remember.

Here is Britt with some of his other creatures. He was a great guy to do movie projects with. We worked well together. As noted in previous articles; together we built the mother ship model, did lobby cards in his darkroom, and he was our cameraman. He used his Bolex Rex 16mm to shot the movie.

KEEPING WARM

Since I am on the topic of Britt here is a neat photo of how he had to keep the camera warm by wrapping it in a blanket. Baltimore had one of their coldest winters that year. He is shooting a scene that takes place just before the mayor(Dick Dyszel) gets killed.

Speaking of COLD here is HOW MONSTERS STAY WARM in the woods before they attack. That is Larry Schlechter in his Infrabrice suit. It was kind of a hard shell paper mache type suit.

KEEPING RESTED

Our ladder that we used for high camera shots came in handy as a leaning post for a tired Zagatile.. The creature suit kept me warm, but my fingers got pretty cold. Monsters were not allowed in houses so they toughed out the cold. Just kiddin. The truth is it simply was too much trouble to walk on the stilts back to the house, or get out of the suit, so I just waited for the next camera set up most of the time all by my lonesome.

HOW A ZAGATILE LEARNS A NEW WALKING PATH

Don is about to take my hand and WALK me out of one area and over to another. The stilts, besides being tough to walk on, had feet that weighed about ten pounds each.(the feet were constructed over ski boots) When I walked I could only see out of slits in under the Zagatiles eyes (half moon slits) which limited my vision to right in front of my toes at best. It was almost like being blind. The eyes of the Zagatile were marbles that blocked most of my vision.

John,

Thanks for coming to my blog and if you want to learn more about me you are welcome to visit my carpet repair web page cosentinocarpet.com

John,

Note: Who else out there in blogland might want to give writing an article a try? Please see the previous blog article ” Coming Attractions To Paragons Blog”. This blog is not just for things I did or the movie Paragon’s Paragon.

And for my contribution to the Paragon’s Paragon blog, I decided to answer the
question I am asked MOST often at every horror convention I attend: “How did you make those intestines?”

But first let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am a“do-it-yourself” movie maker, handling everything from lighting to monster make-up. I grew up a Super 8 filmmaker and was inspired by CINEMAGIC magazine and “The Alien Factor”. I am also a Trekkie, and enjoyed the early articles and photos of “Paragon’s Paragon”.

Although a lifelong horror/sci-fi fan (and a part time movie maker) in Michigan, I have become best known for my 2009 low-budget homage to European horror, “The Italian Zombie Movie” and two new shorts “The Giant Rubber Monster Movie” and “Noirmageddon- A Mark Anvil Thriller”.

My movies are available on Amazon; have won a awards at conventions, and have played on TV shows including Midnite Mausoleum.

My upcoming projects include an ambitious homage to 80’s alien invasion movies and a new zombie feature.

EDITORS NOTE FROM JOHN

YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE A REALLY GREAT SERIES OF GROSS ZOMBIE VIDEO CLIPS DEMONSTRATING WHAT THIS ARTICLE IS ABOUT: “GUTZ”.

THE SCENES WOULD PROBABLY BE CONSIDERED R RATED BY SOME PEOPLE, SO IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH AND DON’T HAVE AN OFF BEAT SENSE OF HUMOR THEN WHAT CAN I SAY?

SORRY BUT MOVIE GUTZ ARE GROSS! BE FOREWARNED: DON’T WATCH!

(last chance to not look)

( Just foolin almost last chance to not look )

( OK this is your last chance not to look )

(OK , So go ahead and look, the suspense is killin me; It’s dark where I am writing this, what’s that smell?, I think something just bite me? Aragggh. JC)

<<<GROSS MOVIE CLIP>>>

So, how did we make those intestines?

Well, the truth is, they are REAL intestines, in a sense; made from stuff you can buy at your local grocery store and any butcher who makes his own sausages. The cost will vary but plan on about $25 per adult torso. Here is our recipe:

Utensils: • Quart+ sized bowl for mixing the gelatin; should be able to fit in your sink • Ladle • Turkey baster without the rubber bulb • Funnel • A large bowl or bucket with ice water

Step 1:

Soak the casings in warm water for a few minutes to soften them up.

Step 2:

Cut the casings into pieces about 2 feet long and inspect them for large holes. Run cold water through the casings by carefully opening one end and holding it under a faucet to allow water to flow through it. Verify that there are no large holes by looking for water squirting out the sides of the casing. If there are large holes or rips in the casing wall, throw it away. It will not hold the gelatin.

Step 3:

Make your gelatin mixture. Follow the directions on the pack. Add color as desired. For example, for healthy looking intestines mix in some cherry unsweetened Kool-Aid. For decaying looking intestines use coffee or cocoa mix. We’ve made green, blue, yellow and purple intestines too! Note that a quart of gelatin makes about 2 intestines, depending on the amount of leakage. Bread crumbs make good filler and also add variety to the texture.

Step 4:

Fill a large bowl or bucket with cold water. Keep it nearby. Add some ice if necessary – The colder the better.

Step 5:

Filling the casings. Place your gelatin mixture bowl in a plugged sink. Thread a casing onto the turkey baster and tie a small knotat the bottom end. Put a funnel into the top of the turkey baster and add your gelatin mixture using a ladle. Do this over the bowl in the sink. As the casing fills, it’s a good idea to let it lay in the bowl with your gelatin mixture in the sink. If your knot comes undone while you’re filling, you won’t loose your gelatin down the drain.

Step 6:

Tie off the other end of the casing and place the intestine in the bucket/bowl of chilled water. Because these are real intestines, water easily passes through the walls via osmosis. Floating them in cold water reduces water loss and speeds the setting of the gelatin.

Step7:

Place in the refrigerator for a few hours… Over night is better.

Step 8:

Drain water, snip the excess casing from the knots on the ends and “serve” al dente!

The recipe above was actually ‘invented’ by my frequent collaborator Joseph Tardani. Joe has been “behind-the-scenes” making movies with me since we were about 8 years old. We made our first (unfinished) zombie movie when we were about 12. I think that was when Joe first began experimenting with this recipe. We like to boast that in IZM, we used gallons of blood and MILES of intestines! It probably isn’t too much of
an exaggeration… Very few photos of Joe exist, but he did play the lead zombie(s) in IZM.

<<<JOE AND CAITRIA PIC>>>

FINALLY A FEW WORDS OF WARNING!

1) Depending on the type of gelatin or Kool Aid you use, these intestines can smell very sweet but don’t be fooled – They are raw, uncooked sausage casings and should not be eaten.

Always wash your hands after handling them

2) Use unsweetened Kool-Aid and gelatin when possible. This will extend the “life” of your intestines. When kept refrigerated, our “unsweetened” intestines would last about two-to-three weeks on average. We had one batch mysteriously last for several months!

Always rinse the intestines in cool water when you’ve finished, and store them in a sealed tub in the refrigerator. Large Tupperware tubs work well.

3) If you use the sweetened stuff, be warned: It tends to ferment quickly, creating some very nasty odors. Sadly, this was lesson we learned at the expense of our actors…

You saw a scene from IZM with a disembodied head talking from the trunk of a car. The trunk was a prop we built where the actress simply poked her head through the bottom of a large box that we then decorated with carpet and the gory stuff.

Unfortunately, the day we shot that scene was the day the intestines decided to go bad. We did everything we could to cover the odor, ultimately adding Pine Sol to the gut pile to make it somewhat bearable.

Also, we shot a scene where a zombie spilled his guts onto the face of our hero. Sadly, this was another day that the intestines fermented. We couldn’t use Pine Sol this time since the guts were hitting him in the face, so the actor just had to tough it out. It was awful – I mean, can you imagine being hit in the face over-and-over with wet intestines that smelled, literally, like flatulence?

Well, I guess that’s all for this installment. Maybe John will ask me back again. Maybe he was too grossed out by all this talk of intestines and flatulence. In any event, thanks for your interest – Now, GO MAKE SOME INTESTINES!

(JC says sometimes it is fun to get grossed out and Thomas you are definitely asked back !)

Note: Who else out there in blogland might want to give it a try? Please see the previous blog article ” Coming Attractions To Paragons Blog” because It’s You. Interested? Email me at cosentinocarpet@gmail.com

The photos were taken directly from the video #4 demo. In the upcoming articles (posts) I will be using actual photos that will be clear whenever possible.

CORPSE FOR ALIEN FACTOR

I stayed in Baltimore, Maryland area about three weeks while we shot most of the creature and special effects scenes for Alien Factor. As each film day drew to a close the next film days schedule was revealed. We had to be very flexible about the schedule and able to change it at any moment. For example one evening I was given the assignment to have a zombie type dead person ready for the next days shoot. Ok, get me some cotton, latex, a blow dryer, a glue gun for the teeth, old doll with some hair, and a Styrofoam head for wigs and away I go. Presto chango one dead guy in the morning. It really wasn’t pressure. It was fun.

ZAGATILE

ZAGATILE (ME ) GETTING SHOT

The thing is I really was getting shot!. Look at this above frame closely, and this scene in the movie. I am flinching and I ain’t acting. That gun was not supposed to be shooting pellets , but it was. Wax bullets! The first one hit me in the stomach ,which was made of thick rubber and it bounced off. The second shot got me in the shoulder. I yelled out at them to “Stop, something is coming out of the gun”. “Something is wrong”!

When you watch the movie the Sheriff never aims the gun at me any more after this above camera angle shot. Some of the shots are done without the gun being seen. He was all shook up that he could have done some real damage to me.

When they helped me out of the monster suit, their was a hole in the Zags arm, and a hole in my tee shirt, and a hole in my arm with a wax bullet stuck in it. I popped it out. We put some iodine on it . Went to the drug store and asked the druggist what to put on it and he gave us some medicine. I was fine. Probably couldn’t do that kind of thing now-a-days.

FORCED PERSPECTIVE

BIG SPACE SHIP CRASH

Britt McDonough ( not sure how to spell his name ) and I put this one foot long model together at his moms house. We used Celuclay for the ground the ship skidded across. Celuclay is a form of ground up paper machee type stuff. The rear end of the ship is an electric tooth brush holder. Boy it is fun to come up with this kind of stuff. There is a photo of us in a previous blog article (titled BOO! ) of mine setting it up outside in the snow at Gunpowder State park in Baltimore, Maryland. ( I am on the left )

The movie scene above is another forced perspective with the actors off to the right and in the distance. The cameras f stop has to be wide open for depth of fields focus to reach from (in this case) one foot to a couple of hundred of feet away where the actors were. The two “planes” merge as one image on the film. It is a neat illusion.

INNER MAN

FINALLY THE “INNER MAN” ( Kiss me you fool)!

He is so named because he is like a man with his outside skin stripped off. I made it pretty much anatomically correct. I did not wear this suit. You had to be pretty skinny to wear it. The idea was that the bulk of the suit would make it the size of the actor who played the Alien. I did not want the suit to be bigger than the actor, thus the skinny person in it and a shirt over the Alien and he was the same bulk as the actor.

Well that’s all for now the next article will continue with more Paragon things or maybe other projects I worked on or a contributor article ?.

Thanks for coming!

John

p.s.

NEXT WEEKS BLOG ARTICLE WILL BE FROM:

THOMAS BERDINSKI of fame for such delicious movie treats such as “The Italian Zombie Movie”

He has promised to answer the most asked question he gets at Horror Movie Conventions

Any idea what that question might be?

Note: Who else out there in blogland might want to give it a try? Please see the previous blog article ” Coming Attractions To Paragons Blog” because It’s You. Interested? Email me at cosentinocarpet@gmail.com